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Questioner:
On several occasions the question was raised as to whether the universe is
subject to the law of causation, or does it exist and function outside the law.
You seem to hold the view that it is uncaused, that everything, however small,
is uncaused, arising and disappearing for no known reason whatsoever.
Maharaj:
Causation means succession in time of events in space, the space being physical
or mental. Time, space, causation are mental categories, arising and subsiding
with the mind.
Q: As long as the mind operates, causation is a
valid law.
M: Like everything mental, the so-called law of
causation contradicts itself. No thing in existence has a particular cause; the
entire universe contributes to the existence of even the smallest thing;
nothing could be as it is without the universe being what it is. When the
source and ground of everything is the only cause of everything, to speak of
causality as a universal law is wrong. The universe is not bound by its
content, because its potentialities are infinite; besides it is a
manifestation, or expression of a principle fundamentally and totally free.
Q: Yes, one can see that ultimately to speak of
one thing being the only cause of another thing is altogether wrong. Yet, in
actual life we invariably initiate action with a view to a result.
M: Yes, there is a lot of such activity going
on, because of ignorance. 'Would people know that nothing can happen unless the
entire universe makes it happen, they would achieve much more with less
expenditure of energy.
Q: If everything is an expression of the
totality of causes, how can we talk of a purposeful action towards an
achievement?
M: The very urge to achieve is also an
expression of the total universe. It merely shows that the energy potential has
risen at a particular point. It is the illusion of time that makes you talk of
causality. When the past and the future are seen in the timeless now, as parts of a common pattern, the
idea of cause-effect loses its validity and creative freedom takes its place.
Q: Yet, I cannot see how can anything come to
be without a cause.
M: When I say a thing is without a cause, I mean
it can be without a particular cause. Your own mother was needed to give you
birth; But you could not have been born without the sun and the earth. Even
these could not have caused your birth without
your own desire to be born. It is desire that gives birth, that gives
name and form. The desirable is imagined and wanted and manifests itself as
something tangible or conceivable. Thus is created the world in which we live,
our personal world. The real world is beyond the mind's ken; we see it through
the net of our desires, divided into pleasure and pain, right and wrong, inner
and outer. To see the universe as it is, you must step beyond the net. It is
not hard to do so, for the net is full of holes.
Q: What do you mean by holes? And how to find
them?
M: Look at the net and its many contradictions.
You do and undo at every step. You want peace, love, happiness and work hard to
create pain, hatred and war. You want longevity and overeat, you want
friendship and exploit. See your net as made of such contradictions and remove
them -- your very seeing them will make them go.
Q: Since my seeing the contradiction makes it
go, is there no causal link between my seeing and its going?
M: Causality, even as a concept, does not apply
to chaos.
Q: To what extent is desire a causal factor?
M: One of the many. For everything there are
innumerable causal factors. But the source of all that is, is the Infinite
Possibility, the Supreme Reality, which is in you and which throws its power
and light and love on every experience. But, this source is not a cause and no
cause is a source. Because of that, I say everything is uncaused. You may try
to trace how a thing happens, but you cannot find out why a thing is as it is. A thing is as it is,
because the universe is as it is.
